KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s prediction that three-time World Cup champion, Germany, would win the coveted trophy for the fourth time came true when they beat Argentina 1-0 early this morning.
Najib had made the prediction last Thursday in his twitter stating, “This should be a time of celebration for Germany, and we wish them all the best in the final.”
On that day, Germany had thrashed 2014 World Cup host, Brazil, 7-1 in a semi-final of the World Cup.
This morning, the Prime Minister had joined 25,000 others to watch the World Cup final at the Dataran Merdeka, here.
Wearing a light purple shirt and black pants, he arrived at the Dataran Merdeka at 2.40am and was greeted by Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and Deputy Federal Territory Minister Senator Datuk Dr Loga Bala Mohan Jaganathan to join the others in the programme, ‘Fiesta Samba Brazil’ organised by the Youth and Sports Ministry.
ajib, who supports the German team, appeared happy and applauded the moment Germany’s Mario Goetze scored the solitary goal in the 113th minute.
He also appeared to have calmed down Khairy, who is a staunch supporter of Argentina and had also donned that country’s football jersey, when the Sports Minister seemed shocked by the goal scored in the last minute of the match aired live by Astro Arena and shown on the giant screen at Dataran Merdeka.
Najib appeared to have patted the Umno Youth leader’s shoulder as soon as the final whistle was blown by Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli.
While watching the match, Najib and Khairy also had a simple ‘sahur’ or pre-dawn meal.
The Prime Minister left the Dataran Merdeka as soon as the match ended at 6am, waving to the crowd as he left.
Members of the public had started to gather at the Dataran Merdeka as early as 6pm and were entertained by various programmes organised by the Youth and Sports Ministry in conjunction with Ramadan, including a breaking of the fast followed by performances entitled ‘Malam Kesenian Islam’ or Islamic Cultural Night, including a religious talk delivered by Ustaz Haslin Bahrin.
The atmosphere at the Dataran Merdeka became more lively as the match drew closer with many of the fans wearing the jerseys of the competing teams, Germany and Argentina.
Some of the fans even had their hair and face coloured according to the colours of the flags of both countries.
Meanwhile, Khairy said he was proud of the strong response given by the youths for the Fiesta Samba Brazil 2014, which reflected that they always supported all programmes organised by the ministry.
“What is important is that we provide this place for the young generation.
Although we can watch this match at home or any ‘mamak’ shop, the atmosphere when watching the match here is different and extraordinary.
“We see that so many people chose to come here, it means that sports fans in this country look forward to such programmes,” he said when met by reporters before watching the final match between Germany and Argentina.
Khairy also advised working youths not to use the programme as an excuse for not working today.
“Although the World Cup final match was at dawn, I hope those who were present here would not take the opportunity to use it as an excuse for not going to work today.
“Such an event is no excuse for not going to work. Furthermore, it was not Malaysia that was playing in the World Cup, so I really hope that those who came would go to work as usual after the match,” he added.
– BERNAMA
